Fawad Chaudhry defends his statement

Says ministers can’t perform their tasks if Senate chairman does not change attitude

ISLAMABAD: Defending his Wednesday’s statement, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said ministers could not perform their tasks if the Senate chairman does not change his attitude.

“How the house could be run without ministers. Ministers have a vital role to play in house proceedings but they could not perform their tasks if the attitude of the chairman does not change,” Chaudhry said while talking to media after a federal cabinet meeting.

He said the federal cabinet held deliberation with regard to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani’s ruling to bar him from entering the Senate. “[During the meeting] the prime minister said nobody has the right to humiliate the ministers,” he added.



In his speech in Senate, Chaudhry said, he did not use unparliamentarily words and only stated that Rs42 trillion were given to Balochistan government in ten years and during the period opposition parties had been ruling the province, so they should be asked where they had spent the funds.

On the contrary, he said, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Mushahidullah Khan used derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Imran Khan and him but he was not asked to apologise.

Chaudhry said he had asked the chairman to form a parliamentary committee to probe into the alleged embezzlement of Rs42 trillion development funds given to the Balochistan governments during the last 10 years and he was being asked to apologise for this demand.

“It is strange that when the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] leadership talks about the corruption and rights of the poor, the privilege of the house members is breached but the privilege of the masses is never breached by loot and plunder of national resources,” he said.

Talking with reference to the oppositions’ demand to appoint the National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif as head of key Public Accounts Committee (PAC),  he said the demand for audit of Nawaz Sharif government’s projects by his brother Shehbaz is ludicrous and could not be accepted.



He said the PTI’s stance is based on the principles that it has the right to nominate the PAC chairman till the audit of the PML-N era is done. “When the time for audit of the PTI projects arrive, the opposition will be given a free hand to appoint a PAC chairman of their choice.”

Cabinet meeting

Earlier, the federal cabinet discussed the country’s political and economic situation during its weekly meeting. Chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at the PM Office the meeting had a 12-point agenda.

Sources told Express News that the cabinet approved agreements signed with various countries. Finance Minister Asad Umar also briefed the attendees on discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission which is currently in Pakistan to deliberate over a bailout package.

The ministers briefed the PM on developments in their respected ministries as Imran Khan reviewed the PTI government’s 100-day plan. He told the members about his upcoming official visit to Malaysia.